LITHIA, Fla. – Florida might lack the sort of hills and technical difficulties that trail runners from the West have come to enjoy. But venues such as Alafia River State Park, site of this morning’s Florida Challenge Half Marathon/5K Trail Run, offers some pretty steep terrain.

Endurance Sports Florida was on hand and while we didn’t tackle the half marathon as we did two years ago, we had a blast on the 5K course, which also is the last 5K of the half marathon. Jim Hartnett and the folks at TampaRaces have set the standard for trail running in Florida. They’re hosting three events on the new Florida XTerra Trail Run series. We filed this video report on this morning’s race: